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dangers of the voyage, that we might see, in even a more 

 complete collection than can be found in any one gallery 

 in Great Britain, the record of what England has been 

 doing in Art since we left the old leading strings of her 

 rule. There were paintings there which travellers remem- 

 ber to be cherished beyond price as examples of their 

 peculiar style in the country to which they belong. And 

 one could learn at Philadelphia those things concerning 

 British Art, which would require much studying and jour- 

 neying over sea to understand as well. 



Nor can we easily discharge our obligation to China 

 and Japan. What marvellous things they showed us in 

 porcelain and bronze ! Macaulay, in the third volume of 

 his History, sneers at the fancy for Chinese ware which 

 Queen Mary introduced at Hampton Court, as a "frivolous 

 and inelegant fashion." But Miss Martineau, in her later 

 History, shows that this love of Oriental art did not then 

 have more than a, limited range or existence, since she 

 alludes to the Chinese productions to be seen in the early 

 part of this century, in the homes of our Salem merchants, 

 as one of the things talked about by those who were ear- 

 nest for the free opening of the Eastern seas for trade. 

 They wanted Oriental objects, Art-objects among the 

 rest, more common ; and Philadelphia showed us how 

 vast were the resources of those nations so recently joined 

 to the western world by the bauds of commerce. I un- 

 derstood that the most ancient and precious things in the 

 Chinese Court were to return to China, as they were the 

 property of wealthy connoisseurs, and worth more at home 

 than here ; but the readiness with which the rest, even the 

 most expensive, were sold, illustrated the increasing Art- 

 culture of our own people. It is neither frivolous nor 

 inelegant to admire those works ; and after the passion of 



the day has thrown off & few of its bubbles, we may look 



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A 



